By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Local government Chairman of Ivo Area of Ebonyi State, Chief Emmanuel Ajah, and the Amaeze community leader, Mr. John Okorie, are on war path over date to conduct election.

This, according to investigation, has generated tension likely to cause breach of peace and destruction of property in the Community.

Amaeze community is endowed with natural resources, hosting numerous investors that deal minerals that generate millions of naira for the area.

It was gathered that the fight between Ajah and Okorie, ensued when Ajah announced that the election of the Amaeze Development Union (ADU) would hold on August 12, 2023, but Okorie opposed it, insisting that the election must hold on August 26, 2023, as allegedly stipulated by the Constitution of Amaeze.

Investigation revealed that an Ebonyi State High Court Ishiaka, in Ivo LGA, in a judgement delivered by Iheanacho Chima on July 2017, in Suit No. HAK/20/2016 between Okereke Chinedu Joshua and others verses Uchenna Anyim and others held that election of the Amaeze Development Union be held on August 26.

In their separate reactions, Mr. Ajah, who spoke to newsmen in Abakaliki, blamed the outgoing Chairman of ADU of attempt to cause another war, killings and destruction of valuable property belonging to the innocent citizens of the council area.

Ajah also denied the alleged claims by Okorie of attempt to hijack the forthcoming ADU’s election.

He said: “I don’t have anything against the outgoing Amaeze community Chairman, Mr. Okorie. This man has caused a lot of damages to people in my place. Let me tell you, when he (Okorie) was a Youth President, he caused a crisis that led to the death of some persons.

“The same Okorie came as a chairman of Amaeze community, and no fewer than five (5) persons died in his tenure, when he was trying to have an interim government. Now, he is going out from office and he wants to cause another crisis so that people will die again, that’s why I said no, it’s not possible.

“The problem is that, his (Okorie) tenure as the chairman of Amaeze community will end on 21^stof this August 2023, but he wants election to be conducted on 26^th, of this August, 2023. I told him (Okorie) that election will hold on 12^thof this August, 2023 and by August 21^st, he will hand over to the new person, but he insisted that election must hold on 26^th, I told him (Okorie) that it’s not possible to conduct election on 26^th, when his tenure had expired on 21^st.”

Ajah berated the outgoing Okorie for staging the arrest of the Chairman on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Ivo LGA, Mr. Orji Elijah Okechukwu, and dragging him (Ajah) before the Commissioner of Police, Department of State Services (DSS), and the State Government.

In a swift reaction, Okorie said that the council chairman Emmanuel Ajah has no such right to interfere with the community’s election and cannot fix a date of election for them.

Okorie, who reacted through his brother, Gilbert Okorie, noted that Amaeze community has a valid constitution that regulates the conduct of its elections and requires no external influence to conduct election.

According to Okorie, “The chairman of Ivo LGA, Emmanuel Ajah has no right to conduct election for Amaeze development Union, ADU. It is not part of the duties of Ivo LGA chairman. Amaeze has a constitution and there is no crisis in it now, except the one the chairman, Ajah is trying to bring now. Article 7 of the Amaeze constitution stipulates, how elections should be conducted and we have been doing that.”

Reacting to the alleged killings of some persons in Amaeze, Okorie said: “What audacity does he (Ajah) have to be attributing crisis that people died in, it was the same imposition that he (Ajah) is trying to bring into Amaeze now, was the same imposition they did in 2021 that caused the crisis that claimed the lives of three (3) people.”

It was learnt that no fewer than four persons including two brothers; Onyekachi Nweni and Ogbonna Nweni, and two others; Christian Okonta and Uchenna Okereke, are currently contesting the ADU’s election to take over from John Okorie.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru, through the Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, has waded into the crisis, and summoned the council chairman Ajah and Okorie, including their supporters to appear before him to amicably resolve the differences in the date of the ADU election.